On Wednesday, 11 April 2018, Diputado Tucapel Jiménez, Member of PGA’s Executive Committee, presented Draft Agreement number 43 supported by eight legislators from different political parties during a plenary session, requesting the President of the Republic to send to Congress the Draft Law on Cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC).  On 15 May 2018, the House of Deputies unanimously (141 members in favor and 2 abstentions) approved said resolution. In doing so, Chilean legislators reaffirmed their commitment to comply with the country’s international obligations as a State Party to the Rome Statute.

Indeed, Chile has been working on this draft law on cooperation with the ICC since 2014, when in response to a communication from the Secretariat of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, it reported that a Working Group composed of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice was preparing the draft bill to be sent to Congress.

Since then, several legislative steps have been taken to encourage the process, including the presentation before Congress of a draft agreement number 526 on September 23, 2015, which was unanimously approved on 6 April 2016. On 28 April 2016, the government reported that the draft bill was in its final stage of review. However, the Executive has not yet sent the draft law on cooperation with the ICC to Parliament.

On May 15, 2017, on the margins of the Regional Parliamentary Workshop to promote the ratification and implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention organized by PGA in collaboration with the National Congress of Chile, a PGA parliamentary delegation was received by the Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice of Chile to discuss cooperation with the ICC. PGA’s delegation was led by the Dip. Jiménez, who has long supported Chile's proactive participation in the international justice system, including in international forums such as PGA parliamentary seminars on the subject, in Montevideo (Uruguay).

“Chile needs a Bill on Cooperation with the International Criminal Court as soon as possible. It is essential that Chile updates its legislation in light of the international reality and in favour of the International Criminal Court. The previous government already had a draft cooperation law, so we request that the current government sends it to Congress as soon as possible, to fully comply with the commitment of Chile to Articles 86 and 88 of the Rome Statute.”

Diputado Tucapel Jiménez, PGA Member

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Melissa Verpile
Legal Officer, International Law and Human Rights Program
Melissa.Verpile@pgaction.org